Quakers staying alive for one last week

After NCAA Regional tourney Sat., at least five will compete in title event

After her performance at NCAA Regionals, junior Danielle Kamis (left) will have to wait until tomorrow to find out if she will advance to NCAA championships.

Though results are unofficial until later this week, the Penn fencing season continues for at least five Quakers.

However, the fate of two will remain undetermined until later this week as the results of Saturday’s NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Fencing Regional tournament, count for only 60 percent of qualifying criteria for championships.

The remaining 40 percent, according to head coach Andy Ma, accounts for results from the entire season and seedings at Regionals.

“The calculations are kind of complicated,” Ma said. “If you are seeded high, but did not fence well at Regionals, you might have a chance because of wildcards.”

At Saturday’s Regionals at Drew University, a purely individual competition, freshman Evan Prochniak earned a trip to next weekend’s NCAA championships taking third place in sabre. Sophomores Vidur Kapur and Alex Simmons will join him, after third and eighth place finishes, respectively, in foil.

On the women’s front, junior Stephanie Wheeler snagged a championship berth in epee, while freshman Aida Abdikulova attained one of her own in foil. Wheeler placed ninth and Abdikulova took eighth.

As a result of the complicated scoring system for NCAA championship qualification, junior Danielle Kamis and sophomore Laura Paragano must wait several days before they learn the fate of their season.

Kamis and Paragano’s high Regional seedings will work in their favor when championship seedings are calculated later this week.

In the meantime, the Quakers — including Kamis and Paragano — will train for the next week and must to stay in shape.

And, according to Ma, Simmons and Prochniak have “a very good chance to make the All-American first team” next weekend at Harvard.